LED

A new graphene lightbulb hopes to unseat traditional LED's from their market dominance. LED bulbs slowly started replacing incandescent bulbs as countries began legislation to phase out the traditional filament bulbs in favor of LEDs. In some countries, the legislation is so strict, that cheaper incandescents are not only nowhere to be found, but illegal to import as well. Such policies were made with good intentions as LED bulbs consume less energy and last longer, which is good for the environment. This new graphene lightbulb still relies LED technology, and adds the strength of graphene molecules to create a bulb that should outlast any traditional LED.

Everyone loves man's best friend; the pet industry has always been an area where people spend a lot hard-earned cash on their little fur babies. Lately, technology has been innovating the pet market as well. The latest incarnation of tech and puppy love is the Disco Dog LED vest by PARTY, a New York creative firm. It allows you to use your smartphone to control the animated pattern of lights on the doggy vest. You can choose different colors and light patterns, and they even have an option to create a scrolling message, just like an LED marquee.

Philips has outed a new lineup of remotely-controlled lamps, the Hue Phoenix range, integrating "light recipes" which the company claims can stimulate productivity and concentration. Five different styles will be on offer, spanning downlights through table lamps, and finally ceiling lamps, and all with the same UFO-styled lozenge enclosure. As with Philips' Hue Lux bulbs, which we reviewed last year, Phoenix is all about white light.

If the smart home is to catch on, then its constituent pieces have to start playing together nicely. Cree has been pushing the LED bulb envelope - particularly on price - for some time, and now it's the turn of the Connected LED Bulb. Not long ago, fifteen dollars for a wireless light bulb was unthinkable; Cree promises not only that, but cross-platform support for home automation hubs compatible with ZigBee. While it's Home Depot favorite Wink that gets the mention on the Cree box, I was also keen to see how friendly the bulbs would be with smart lighting stalwart Philips hue, not to mention the increasingly popular SmartThings.

Connected lighting was a big theme at CES 2015, but remotely-controlled bulbs are seldom cheap. That's something Cree is aiming to change with its new Connected Cree LED Bulb, a 60W equivalent priced under $15 apiece and offering wireless compatibility not only with Home Depot's Wink hub, but in fact any hub that's ZigBee certified. From there, control over on/off status and bulb brightness can be made.

Does the world need another connected lightbulb? Misfit believes the answer is yes, and it's taking advantage of its existing place on people's wrists to give its Bolt bulb an edge. Launched at CES this week, the color-changing LED light is quite content to do the usual hue-like switching of tones between different presets; however, it can also wirelessly connect to Misfit's Shine and Flash wearables, along with the Beddit sleep monitor, and tie lighting effects into your sleep patterns.

Over the past year, Razer has turned their original Nabu wearable device (revealed exactly one year ago) into a bit of an underground hit - thousands sold, but to their fan club members and developers only. Here in 2015, Razer is returning to the scene with the Razer Nabu X, a slightly more simple affair. This device has the same abilities as the original Nabu, but this time you're being notified by three LED lights, not a full screen with text. This unit is a whole lot less expensive, too.

Misfit has a pretty solid track record with wearables, though the knock is that they’re a bit simple. Their app does a good enough job of feeding you the info their wearables gather, but still — something seems missing. At CES this week, Misfit is announcing they’ve got light bulbs coming, which sounds a bit odd at first. Then you realize they’re connected bulbs, and will work with Misfit’s other wearables like the Flash or Shine. The goal with Misfit’s new Bolt bulbs is waking you up, ever so gently.

Even with the ever increasing megapixel counts of front-facing cameras, selfies are still hard to perfect, especially when lighting is concerned. To that end, Lenovo's latest accessory here at CES 2015 has you covered. The VIBE Xtension Selfie Flash gives you all the lighting support you will ever need for that perfect selfie or wefie, without overburdening the smartphone itself with it's own LED flash, which might be unnecessary most of the time except for those selfies. It'll be there in your pocket or bag when you need it and out of your way when you don't.

At CES, Sengled is showing off a series of smart lighting devices meant for a myriad of purposes. From music to better WiFi, your lights are about to make your home a lot brighter. Their Pulse Solo is the first LED light with a built in dual speaker for audiophiles, while the Boost is meant to enhance WiFi anywhere in your home. Of course, all this goodness is controlled via their app, so you still won’t have to get up to turn the lights off!